Columbia Coffee rating event Excellence Cup Competition

Champion coffee bean grower Anofle Gizamo.

Coffee growers are waiting for the award.

Tasters use their sense of smell to distinguish the aroma of coffee.

Colombia's coffee is among the best in the world, and the annual coffee rating event, C O E, is dedicated to judging the best coffee here. The judges all have special skills to influence the future of the coffee industry between sipping and spitting.

In the spring of Colombia, coffee experts from all over the world gathered in the Caribbean seaside town of Santa Mata to choose the most prestigious award for the coffee industry. Albert Tejillo is one of them, and he will be warming up, bending his knees, shaking his legs, bending over, hoping for the best of his body, nose and mouth-the cupping is about to begin. Anyone who has done a little research on coffee knows that cup testing is the best way to understand the aroma and taste of a cup of freshly ground coffee. However, Tejillo is no ordinary coffee expert, and what he wants to do is not an ordinary cup test. He is a quality appraiser (QG rader) certified by the coffee quality organization (Coffee Quality Institute). He is very experienced in roasting and tasting coffee beans. Today he is a judge of the annual coffee rating event, the C up ofExcellence (C O E).

Standing next to Tegiro is Geoff Wirtz, vice president of IntelligentsiaC offee&T ea, a food retailer in Chicago. It's still early in the morning, but the day's game is about to begin. Wirtz took a deep breath, readjusted his olfactory organs and waited for his mouth to be ready. "it still smelled of toothpaste." He muttered.

Today's semi-finals will be held. Tegiro, Wirtz and 18 other coffee connoisseurs will face 29 varieties of coffee. There are 10 kinds in front of each expert, filled in the same white measuring cup, with no other marks but a number on the cup. The cups are neatly arranged in 20 rows on six large tables, each containing 11. 5 grams of ground coffee beans, with an error of only 1% grams.

The competition began four weeks ago, when 513 coffee plantations from all over Colombia submitted the best coffee beans they produced. Now, after a series of marathon races, there are only a few left. In the upcoming three-hour cup test, the judges will eliminate half of them. Tomorrow, Tejillo, Wirtz and their colleagues will select the top coffee produced in Colombia and choose the winner.

The judges relied on geek-like skills rather than senses. Beneath the casual appearance, there are crazy people who are keen to delve into baking technology and quality control. Now they go to the cup table and grab notebooks and calculators. Meanwhile, Paul Sanch, the burly chief judge, joined me in looking forward to the future of coffee. He qualified as a quality appraiser after two years of applied sensory and consumer science courses at the University of California, Davis. In his view, coffee tasting has the potential to reach the level of wine tasting, attracting a large number of followers. Wirtz points out that grapes contain about 200 different flavor ingredients, while more than 800 have been detected in coffee. "in the next 30 years, people will be as obsessed with coffee as they are with wine."

Of course, in some people, coffee has become a kind of religion. But in the eyes of Sanzhi and Wirtz, the influence of coffee needs to be expanded and should not be limited to a small group of urban elites. They want to do their best to use all their business wisdom and marketing funds to guide us ordinary people until humble coffee beans become the most carefully cultivated and nurtured crop. At that time, an ordinary cup of coffee will be sold at sky-high prices, and people will develop countless exotic recipes, each with its own brand and fans, like Pinot Noir in California.

It can be said that everyone in this field is looking forward to such a future.

The first C O E was held in Brazil 12 years ago, and any grower can send his own coffee beans to the competition. The judges are made up of importers, roasters and tasting experts, and the champion is sold at a high price in the form of online auction. The rules were devised by Susie Spend, executive director of the International boutique Coffee Federation, and the competition model was then introduced to Latin American countries and even Rwanda. Now Spind has set his sights on Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania. "C O E has completely changed the basic model of coffee sales." She said.

In the past, coffee-growing countries tried to grow bigger coffee beans. However, as the quality of coffee affects the price more and more, countries are more and more concerned about the variety and flavor of coffee beans. In Colombia's C O E competition last year, the champion bean "F in ca L aL om a" caused a scandal. They received the highest score ever in the Colombian coffee industry-94. 92, the judges said, using them to grind the coffee as delicate as velvet, the finish is extremely sweet, with the taste of clover and watermelon. In an online auction, a group of international buyers bought 2000 pounds of Finkaloma for 40. 09 dollars, and their prices soared to $260 a kilogram when they arrived in Japan.

This is good news for the farmer who planted 20 acres of Fincalama. This is also good news for the National Union of Colombian Coffee growers. The alliance is a non-profit organization representing about 500000 coffee growers in Colombia, nicknamed F edecaf é (Coffee Alliance). The Coffee Alliance advertises that Finkeloma is actually a new breed of "C astillo" developed by its scientific research department. At the request of the Coffee Alliance, Colombian growers pulled out the varieties they had been growing, such as "bourbon", "Katula" and "Tippica" and replaced them with "Castilla". But others refused to do so because they thought "Castilla" didn't taste as delicious as traditional Colombian varieties.

Shortly after Finkelaloma won the contest, some rumors began to spread that the coffee was actually a variant of C aturra. "Katula" is famous for its wonderful taste, but it is extremely delicate and has poor resistance to coffee rust. The controversy is not a boring quarrel. Colombian coffee production recently fell to its lowest level in more than three decades, and the Coffee Alliance wanted to use Castillo to save the industry, but the rumors made its decision questionable.

The independent coffee review body Coffee Certification (C afecert) began to investigate the matter. They could have used near-infrared spectroscopy to analyze the chemical composition of "Catula" and "Castilla" respectively, but instead of doing so, they went directly to the plantation to see the coffee trees. The final conclusion is: "Fencalama" has about 30% inheritance of "Castilla", although this is not the result that the Coffee Alliance wants. But it's not that embarrassing. The rumors have come to an end, but it fully shows how important the C O E competition is to growers, buyers and relevant institutions.

At present, there are more than 100 varieties of coffee in Colombia, and "Cattula" and "Castilla" are just two of them. However, heredity is by no means the only factor that determines the flavor of coffee. The high-altitude volcanic soil of South America determines the soil properties of coffee growth. There are other important factors: the harvest time chosen by growers and different cleaning, drying, peeling, meat removal and selection methods. The final step in the coffee bean production line is baking, which is more like an art than a science, and is generally left to experts like the judges of today's C O E competition.

As a competition, C O E started early to prevent the judges' sense of smell and taste from being contaminated by smells in daily life. As a result, as early as 8 a.m., the judges leaned over the cup and sniffed. This is a blind product: the judges do not know which plantation the coffee beans come from or who washed and baked them, and there is no interference between their senses and the dried coffee powder.

The judges rely on their keen sense of smell for the first selection, and the scores are timely recorded on the scoreboard-the contents are classified and complex, including aroma, acidity, balance, sweetness and aftertaste, each with a score of between 1 and 8.

The composition of the judges of C O E is famous for its international character, which is comparable to that of the Olympic Games. In addition to Tejlo and Wirtz, there are representatives from Solberg & H ansen, a century-old company that is the leading player in the Norwegian coffee industry, as well as a Brazilian, two Germans, a young Swede with a moustache and two Japanese.

As the judges bowed their heads and sniffed, a row of beautiful young girls stood by and waited quietly. In front of them was a large silver kettle with water just heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93.3 degrees Celsius). The girls were wearing white T-shirts, skinny jeans, and well-fitting smocks and hats with the logo of the competition. They play a minor but indispensable role in the race, much like the car models in the auto show. Suddenly, according to some signal, they moved forward together, holding silver pots, filled with hot water from the kettle, and then walked gracefully and synchronously to the cup test table and poured water into the identical white cups.

Then they took a few steps back and the judges set the alarm clock for four minutes with their Apple or BlackBerry phones. The clock started, no one moved, no one spoke. In the silence, the black coffee powder slowly emerged and floated on the surface.

Just after 240 seconds, the judges rushed over waving spoons. These spoons were previously hidden in their jacket pockets or small condoms, and unlike ordinary spoons, they are all rare deep bowls specially made for coffee products.

This is a critical moment in the game, known as break. With incredible caution, the judges slowly pressed the floating powder into the bottom of the cup with a spoon, and then stirred it gently. They bowed their heads and listened attentively to the aroma emitted by the steam. Then he picked up the second spoon from the table and cleverly removed every bit of residue from the cup, leaving an extremely clear cup of coffee.

This set of ceremonial movements and extremely accurate water injection and slag may give the viewer the wrong impression that the international competition is extremely dignified and majestic. But when the real taste begins, you will find that this is not the case. In order to truly identify the coffee, the tester must bring each spoonful of coffee into contact with the surrounding air as much as possible, and then sip it loudly into the mouth so that the coffee liquid can fully cover every part of the mouth. The finer the water is sipped, the easier it is to determine its subtle acidity, sweetness, etc. All this means that when an expert sips coffee, it sounds very similar to a long, loud, damp fart.

After participating in the competition for many years, each judge developed his or her own frequency, loudness and intensity of sniffing. Tejillo from Mexico makes a cackle, Germany's Uvellibogal sucks at a high speed and efficiently, and a South Korean seems to sneeze backwards. Everyone sips at the same time, and it sounds like a group of five-year-olds eating too much fructose at a party, obsessively playing toy flutes.

What is worse than sipping is spitting. Every time the coffee is sipped, the judges immediately spit it into a plastic cup, and from time to time someone comes over and pours the spit into a black plastic bucket in the corner of the table. The judges' lips were bulging, their faces were deformed with concentration, and they kept sucking and throwing up like human flesh filters. As the game goes on, coffee swill accumulates in the bucket. Although it seems a little disgusting to the viewer, the experts are preoccupied and unswervingly write down the scores on the paper. Suck, vomit, meditate, score, inhale, vomit, meditate, score, and cycle.

Wirtz was busy, sniffing at a full cup of coffee. "try number 8," he whispered to me.

I was excited that Wirtz offered to talk to me (the competition organizers forbade me to talk to him or any of the judges) and approached an apprentice table for those who were still learning coffee tasting skills. I stared at No. 8, then bowed my head like the judges, and was surprised to find that I couldn't smell any fragrance at all. I took out a spoon and tasted it: it was very light, extremely faint. I decided that No. 8 was a lousy cup of coffee and couldn't wait for the judges to eliminate this guy.

"No. 7, it smells like phenol!" Chief judge Sang Zhi loudly announced "disqualification!"

Phenolic flavor refers to the chlorine-like, iodine-like smell that is often found in coffee sold in roadside cafes. No one knows where the phenolic smell comes from, but one theory is that fresh coffee beans are exposed to too much ultraviolet light when they are ripened. However, there is no definitive research in this area, Sang Zhi said. There are still many unsolved mysteries in coffee science.

Researchers are trying to analyze the respiration of coffee beans, fruit load and many other agronomic and genetic problems. What is known is that the flavor of a coffee bean depends on the strange combination of cell wall peptidoglycan and propionic acid, as well as the contents of propectin, peroxidase, alkyl-methoxypyrazine and hexanal. Coffee laboratory has basically mapped their transformation path and signal transmission, and made an in-depth study on the factors affecting the quality of coffee, such as humus, altitude, sunshine and so on. However, exactly where that nasty phenolic smell comes from is still unknown. "some geeks are thinking about it." Sangzhi said he was referring to the Global Coffee quality Research Program, or G C Q R I, at Texas A & M University.

As the cup test drew to a close, the judges stared at the score table with folders in their hands. Some people walked around the room, excited and confused because they drank too much coffee. At last they all sat down and gazed at the sky like poets and scholars, waiting for the coffee to give them the last glimmer of inspiration. In this solemn waiting, the game ended silently.

"using people as an evaluation tool is a challenge," Sangzhi said. "you can't set them as rational and accurate as an acid-base meter." Fortunately, overcoming the shortcomings of the "human flesh tester" is not a major concern for C O E. The driving force of the game is marketing, which means that all they do is to "squeeze" more dollars, euros and yen in the online auction after the game. To this end, the competition organizers will ask the judges to describe each type of coffee and then post their exaggerated words on the competition website to stimulate the enthusiasm of the bidders.

At the end of each cup test, Sangzhi would leave the competition with the tasting masters to a small discussion room, pull down the blinds and ask them to comment on each coffee sample. Little is known about this, but according to hindsight, it is believed that tasting masters love every kind of coffee.

Sang Zhi asked the judges what they thought of No. 1. "there is still a certain distance." The Norwegian said.

"Yes," said Liebergar, a German, "rough and half-baked."

The judges shook their heads. And then there's the second.

"it smells like clear grass and flowers." Said Wendy de Joan, the chief coffee judge of the American Association of Bakers of the year.

Soon, the evaluation of coffee became a brain contest, not a sensory contest. Creativity becomes very important.

"Chocolate, licorice, butterscotch." The Swede said.

"like a cooked banana, with the smell of rhubarb and hibiscus." The Brazilian added.

"it's very powerful," Wirtz said. "Wow."

The judges agreed that No. 3 was too aggressive and that No. 4 was light and clean, with a juicy pear flavor and a bit of honey. No. 5 exudes intense aromas of blackcurrant, mango, passion fruit, plum and tamarind. No. 6 is elegant, but not very coordinated. "it's metallic," Tejillo announced. "it smells of red wine, coconut and lemon vanilla." No. 7-we already know-has been disqualified because of its phenolic smell.

Then it was the 8th, the kind of crappy coffee I had the misfortune to taste. I waited for the judges to condemn this guy and let it go to eternal coffee hell.

"it has mango flavor and milk chocolate flavor." It was the first evaluation that came out, and they tasted like a completely different thing from me.

"and BlackBerry and plum!" Some people say.

Then someone said he tasted elderberry, while another said he tasted breadfruit and lychee. Carnival metaphors followed: tea rose, white peach, cream. Garcia, cherry ice cream! Black bread!

Wirtz, hands up. "it's very--" he paused for a long time, as if looking for the right word. "very simple."

The next morning, all the judges arrived in the discussion room an hour before the final. They will choose the top 10 best coffee based on their sense of smell and taste, and choose the only champion-the best coffee in Colombia. Sangzhi constantly emphasized to them the way of coffee tasting, laying the groundwork for that moment. "it's just between you and the coffee." The day before, he had said. Now he is holding a chart that shows that human feelings can be quantified and turned into accurate assessments. "it's perfectly possible for these coffees to get more than 90 points," he said, glancing at the judges like Nietzsche. "Don't confine yourself to the question of right and wrong."

Today, Columbia Television sent a reporter, a host enthusiastically explained, making the game particularly exciting. When he sighed at the camera, and when the judges smoked and vomited and scored as they did yesterday, I realized that I was in such a hurry to report the event that I even forgot to eat breakfast. It was so hot that I threw off my shoes, unbuttoned my shirt and drank several cups of the best coffee in the world. Maybe it's coffee that sharpens my senses. Anyway, the more I drink, the more uncomfortable I feel. The clean and complex spice was layered and danced on my tongue, and for a moment I seemed to feel the subtle smell of grapes, almonds and roasted plums.

Unfortunately, this sensual enjoyment exploded quickly. My hands began to tremble and my pen fell off. I began to grope on the ground and sweat dripped to the floor. I was like a drunken drunkard at a wine tasting, and the coffee girls shook their heads-another gringo caught up in madness caused by xanthine and plant bases.

"what's the matter?" Asked Li Yansong, a judge from South Korea.

I shook my head.

"put on your shoes," Liebergar said. "it may have a negative impact on the judgment."

That night, the leaders of the Coffee Alliance came to present the awards, along with a group of government officials and the news media. But the most striking are the coffee growers who have just come down from the Andes, clean-shaven and tanned, dressed in black home-made trousers, white Oxford shirts, red ties and straw hats. One of them looks like a character in the play: he sits there poker-faced, wearing a huge Mexican wide-brimmed hat and an eye-catching mustache. There is no doubt that his donkey is tied up in the parking lot with several bags of handpicked coffee beans on his back. Half a century ago, Hengmei Advertising Agency (D oyle D ane B ernbach) created the image of Colombian farmer "Uncle Juan Valdez" as the face of Colombian coffee, and this is the embodiment of Juan Valdez.

After endless official speeches and longer performances of traditional Colombian music, the time has finally come to announce the winner of the C O E award. The champion coffee beans were planted by the Juan Valdez avatar, and his name was Anofle Gizamo. The judges said his coffee beans had the sour taste of passionflower and a mixture of almonds, lemon vanilla, jasmine and tamarind. The coffee is creamy and caramelized, reminiscent of wild flower honey, with a high score of 94. 05

As soon as the prize was announced, he was immediately surrounded by a large group of people, including Japanese buyers, European roasters and a large number of coffee girls eager to take pictures. Like a Hollywood producer who just won an Oscar, Mr. Legizamo calmly answered the phone and kept the crowd waiting.

With all my strength, I finally squeezed in front of him and asked my own question: how will he spend the large amount of income brought by the champion beans? Legizamo looked at the crowd, his eyes getting wet. Perhaps he is recalling how he harvested the "Katula" coffee beans in the endless Truel mountains, washed them with cold springs in early spring and dried them in the sun, just as his father and ancestors did.

"Thank God and the Virgin Mary," he said. "now I can pay off my debts."

So will he keep growing this kind of coffee? He didn't answer at that time. But a few weeks later news came that Le Gizamo planned to grow another kind of coffee this year, a new variety developed by the Coffee Alliance, called Castilla. Source: southern Metropolis Daily August 2011